How It Feels to Live With AIDS for 30 Years
Three decades ago, Christopher Cunningham was diagnosed with AIDS—yet he’s still here to share his story
Update 6/7/22: Level has a new home. You can read this article and other new articles by visiting LEVELMAN.com.
The first time I met Chris, he told me he had AIDS. And I laughed out loud.
Let me explain.
We were at a brunch last year hosted by a notable Twitter/media personality. Every so often, she gathers a group of folks from various industries for food and drinks and some low-pressure networking. Not my thing, usually, but I was there as my boyfriend’s plus-one — well, one of his plus-two. He also invited his brother Chris so we could meet. Except Chris was late.
Eventually, I saw him step in, dapper and assured. He surveyed the room and then sat across from me at the table — but not without giving me the up-and-down outfit check. (I passed, I guess.) We discussed the menu, agreed on the oxtail hash, and then continued reading the room and making small talk. It was a fish-out-of-water sort of solidarity: The room skewed millennial, and everyone looked like social media stars with massively successful podcasts we’d never heard of, so we used each other as lifelines.
